London Review Bookshop Podcast

• Jenny Uglow & Fiona Stafford on Gilbert White

  In A Year with Gilbert White (Faber) biographer and historian Jenny Uglow continues her exploration of the 18th-century scientific revolution with a journey in the company of the father of British natural history, whose The Natural History of Selborne has been constantly in print since 1789 in over 300 editions to date. Jenny Uglow talked about how the nature notes of an obscure Hampshire clergyman became one of the best-loved books of all time with Fiona Stafford, Professor of English at Somerville, Oxford and author of The Long, Long Life of Trees, The Brief Life of Flowers and Time and Tide.

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• Emily LaBarge & Olivia Laing: Dog Days

  Emily LaBarge’s Dog Days (Peninsula Press) begins with a personal trauma – the account of how she and her family were held hostage during the Christmas holidays of 2009 – building on that experience a dazzling exploration of writing, art and the imagination. Drawing on writers and artists such as Vivian Gornick, Robert Burton, David Lynch and Sylvia Plath, LaBarge picks apart the structures of narrative forms to ask how it might be possible to tell the ‘Good Story,’ and its aftermath, on its own terms. LaBarge was in conversation with writer Olivia Laing.

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• Wendy Erskine & Sheena Patel: The Benefactors

  Wendy Erskine’s two short story collections Sweet Home and Dance Move marked her out as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Irish fiction. Now her first novel The Benefactors (Sceptre) looks set to cement that reputation. ‘In all of its glorious polyphony, The Benefactors brims with humanity’, writes Lucy Caldwell. ‘It’s got snap, it’s got sparkle, it’s got soul. All of Belfast is here, all of life. I adored it.’ Wendy Erskine was in conversation with Sheena Patel, part of the collective 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE and author of the novel I’m a Fan.

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• Ali Smith & Sarah Wood: Gliff in the Spruce Forest

  Playful, mind-expanding, dark, funny and endlessly rewarding, Ali Smith’s dystopian parable of an authoritarian future was one of the most talked-about new books when published in hardback last year. To mark the appearance of Gliff in paperback, Smith returned to the shop to talk about it with film-maker Sarah Wood. They also spoke about So in the Spruce Forest, an essay originally written for ‘Edvard Munch: Trembling Earth’, an exhibition in 2023 in Oslo which has now appeared in book form, beautifully printed by the Munch Museum.

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• Ed Atkins & Holly Pester: Flower

  In Flower (Fitzcarraldo), his first work of non-fiction, Copenhagen-based artist Ed Atkins propels us into a world of junk food, invented memories and confessional anti-confessionalism. ‘Sometimes it brought me to tears and I’m not even sure why,’ writes Luke Kennard, ‘It’s the stuff most of us leave out, or wouldn’t even know how to articulate. By which I mean this book has made so much other writing feel like propaganda. It’s heroic. I’m not sure I’ll ever recover from it.’ Atkins read from his work and was joined in conversation by poet and novelist Holly Pester. Find more events at the Bookshop: https://lrb.me/eventspod From the LRB: Subscribe to the LRB: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/subsbkshppod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Close Readings podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/crbkshppod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LRB Audiobooks: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/audiobooksbkshppod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bags, binders and more at the LRB Store: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/storebkshppod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get in touch: [email protected]

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